Affirmative
by SpaceCowgirl1
Summary: What happens when a loud-mouthed sniper (and self-declared heart-throb) and a short-tempered, bossy wind mage find themselves stuck in a locked room together? Something neither Irvine Kinneas nor Fujin Kazeno ever expected, that’s for sure!


**Author's note: **The idea for this story came to my mind when I issued the September 2003 fanfiction contest on my website which is an online archive for Final Fantasy romance fanfiction and fanart. (If you want to visit the site, please go to my FF.net profile to look up the URL.) The task of the contest was to write a story about the most unconventional Final Fantasy pairing one could think of, and to let the chosen couple get stuck somewhere together. I didn't participate in my own contest of course, but still wanted to write this story. So here it is. *g*

Oh, and this is my first attempt ever to write Final Fantasy fanfiction, and English is not my native language, so please bear with me! *lol* I hope you enjoy the story. Please give me feedback if you can spare a minute. Thanks!

**Affirmative – Chapter 1**

_Life can be so cruel, _Irvine Kinneas thought as he followed Fujin Kazeno to the main elevator of Balamb Garden. Earlier this day, Irvine had been called to Headmaster Cid Kramer's office and before he even knew what was going on had found himself in the middle of a long reprehension. A female person Headmaster Cid didn't tell the name of obviously had filed a complaint against him…

"I swear I didn't touch anybody, Headmaster!" Irvine protested his innocence, but Cid Kramer only nodded, saying "The person who's accusing you of molesting her never said you got physical. She mentioned some verbal harrassment, though. Can you truthfully tell me you didn't do anything like that, either?"

Irvine thought for a second, but then decided it wasn't a good idea to lie into Cid Kramer's face. And he had to admit that there indeed were more than just one female cohorts he had tried to coax into a date and who actually had reacted a bit indignantly. Heck, he even had made bedroom eyes at two or three of the hot instructors… Conscience-stricken, he showed an apologetic smile to his headmaster. 

"I see," Cid said knowingly as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Well, no serious harm was done and you seem to understand that you pushed it a little too far. Under these circumstances, I'll refrain from applying any severe punishment on you."

"Thank you, Sir," Irvine said, relieved, and wanted to rise in order to flee from the office, but Cid raised a hand and motioned him to remain seated. 

"I'm not finished yet, Mr. Kinneas," the headmaster continued with a weak smile. "You heard that we are in search of volunteers to clear some space in the stockrooms? I'm sure a fine young man like you would be willing to help out…"

"Of course, Sir," Irvine muttered, well knowing that he didn't really have a choice on this matter. And if Headmaster Cid would forget about the whole harrassment accusation if he reorganized the stockrooms of Balamb Garden, he would be pretty stupid to not take the offer.

"Excellent!" Cid Kramer said happily and opened the door to his office. "Please report to my office tomorrow at four o'clock. And don't you worry, Mr. Kinneas, you won't have to do the rearranging all on your own!"

At first, Irvine had been glad about that announcement of Headmaster Kramer, but now as he knew _who_ was to help him, he wished he would have to do it all on his own, indeed…

"HURRY!" Fujin barked as she marched in front of him along one of the long corridors. He pulled a face at her behind her back as they made a turn and started to climb the stairs to the elevator. Two young SeeD aspirants who just passed them and saw his mocking grimaces started to giggle. 

"Hey girls," Irvine greeted them with a charming smile, "How are you doing?"

"Fine, how are you?" the taller one of the females asked him back, but they didn't stop on their way down the stairs to prolong the talk to him. Irvine turned around and was now walking backwards so he could look after the girls but still follow Fujin up to the elvator. 

"Fine, thanks, but I would feel even better if you went out with me tonight, sweetheart!" he yelled down the stairs, the grin on his face growing even wider. He didn't see the girl's reaction though. As soon as he had blurted out his invitation for a date, he untenderly bumped into something. Or rather someone. 

"PAY ATTENTION!" a harsh voice rebuked him, and when he turned around he looked right into one fierce red eye that stared back, narrowed and sparking with annoyance. 

_Man, this is going to be one loooong afternoon…! _Irvine thought as Fujin turned away from him to hit the button of the elevator with a curt, angry movement.

****

In the stockrooms down in the lowest level of Balamb Garden it was dusty, dry and way too warm. They left the heavy door open, hoping that some of the fresh airdrafts from the corridor would make their way inside the room they were to spend the next few hours in. Both of them eager to escape the company of the other, they instantly started their work with much eagerness and rapidity. Neither of them said a word, and soon half of the stockroom was reorganized, looking neat and tidy. 

 "Why the hell do they turn up the heating like that down here?" Irvine muttered as he wiped the long sleeve of his shirt across his moist forehead. "Man, it's _hot _in here... Or is it me?" With a wry grin, he let himself sink down on a large case that was placed next to the dark wall. Fujin threw a depreciatory glance in his direction as she yanked three small, dust-covered boxes out of one of the many shelves. Irvine's smile froze to an equally hostile expression when Fujin didn't look away again but kept on stabbing him with her sharp, red look.

"What?" he asked her, provoked. 

"WORK!" she exclaimed gruffly.

"I'm going to sit here for just two minutes, 'kay? We've been beavering away for more than three hours now!" he shot back. 

"WEAKLING!" Fujin tossed one of the boxes she was holding towards him, and if Irvine hadn't possessed remarkable reflexes, she might have hit him in the face with it. 

"_Hey!" he yelled after he had caught the box that had been flying towards him with impressive speed. Apparently very annoyed, Irvine rose from the case and stood in front of Fujin, trying to intimidate her with his taller and broader figure. "What's your problem, little Lady Fury, I'm just taking a small break! I don't give a fuck what you are up to, but I won't go over the top with this job down here, okay?! It's just a silly imposition, it's not like we will be suspended from Garden if we don't work our asses off down here! Besides, I have to say that you are starting to –"_

Irvine's eruption was cut off by a loud bang that let both teenagers wince with a start and jerk their heads towards the direction the sudden sound had come from. The door had fallen shut and interrupted their "conversation". 

"I will go," Irvine grumbled, threw the box he was holding back towards Fujin with quite some impact and strode to the door in order to open it again. On the way, he tried to calm himself down. This impossible girl! Though Fujin couldn't really be called a _girl_, if one was to ask him. If already her character was good for nothing, why couldn't she at least be pleasing to the eye? But no, she was an idiotic bitch stuck in a flat, scrawny, totally unattractive body. And he would have to spend the whole afternoon with her. This androgynous being must have come straight out of hell just to pester him, that was for sure.

Biting back a sigh, Irvine reached out for the doorknob, turned it and pushed.  

Nothing. 

He tried again, harder this time, but the door didn't move an inch. _Oh no..._

"Fuck!" Irvine muttered under his breath as he joffled the door, to no avail.

"Something wrong?!" Fujin shouted from the other side of the room. Irvine hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his trousers and turned around to face the silver-haired mage who still had a furious expression on her pale face.

"Seems like we are trapped in here," he informed her, once more cursing his fate for being so malicious lately. _Hell!_

**~ to be continued ~**


End file.
